258 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



' Soft parts : Naked areas of face and throat, the bill and feet, slate 

 black. 



This species is so very distinct from leopoldi that it seems correct 

 to consider them as distinct specific entities, and not as races of one 

 form. The present bird has the underside of the tail, and, to a lesser 

 extent, of the wings, greenish, while leofoldi has these areas gray. 

 The green color on the breast is more broadly suffused over the pec- 

 toral area in -per sonata^ more medially concentrated in leopoldi^ and 

 the color of the abdomen is darker in the former than in the latter. 



Sclater^^ calls personata the brown-faced and leopoldi the black- 

 faced goaway bird. Mearns noted the color of the naked facial areas 

 as slate black, a statement that seems to contradict Sclater's nomen- 

 clature. However, all of the specimens have this bare region sparsely 

 covered with minute brownish feathers, which give it a brownish look 

 when compared with leopoldi. 



Unfortunately I have been able to compare these four specimens 

 with but one other, so the total series is small. The measurements are 

 as follows : 



Male : Wing 220, tail 264, culmen from base 27 millimeters. 



Male : Wing 224, tail 293, culmen from base 24.5 millimeters. 



Female: Wing 218, tail 278, culmen from base 23.5 millimeters. 



Female: Wing 214, tail 241, culmen from base 25.5 millimeters. 



Female : Wing 214.5, tail 265, culmen from base 23.5 millimeters. 



Small as the series is, it indicates that males are larger than 

 females on the average, and that the measurements given by Reiche- 

 now 2^ are too small (wing 210-215, tail 260-275, culmen 26 milli- 

 meters). 



The two birds from Gato River appear to be the southernmost 

 records for the species. Neumann ^^ gives Lake Zwai as the south- 

 ern limit of its range, and I know of no other records south of that 

 point. The extension of range involved amounts to approximately 

 150 miles. The distribution of this plantain eater is still none too 

 thoroughly understood, but it may be summarized as follows: Cen- 

 tral Ethiopia and the Hawash region south to the Shoan Lake dis- 

 trict, probably to Lakes Stefanie and Rudolf. It does not occur 

 in the Nile drainage basin as far as known. It is ecologically re- 

 stricted to the thicker Acacia-Mimosa thornbush country, where it 

 occurs in small parties and keeps high up in the tallest trees. 

 Erlanger" writes that in choice of habitat it greatly resembles 

 C orythaixoides leucogaster. The same worker also found a nest with 

 two young near Harrar (Erer Valley) on April 30. Mearns noted 



=« Syst. Avium Etbiop., 1024, p. 196. 

 21 VOgel Afr., vol. 2, 1903, p. 37. 

 ==Nov. Zool., vol. 15, 1908, p. 368. 

 »Journ. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 433. 



